Microsoft’s 12 Days of Deals Christmas campaign is slowly coming to an end, but the company still has a couple of special offers for customers who are looking for new gadgets. The company on Thursday is selling a new Windows 8.1 two-in-one tablet/laptop combo at a deep discount, with the promotion set to start at 8:00 a.m. More →
HP has a brand new laptop model to take on the MacBook Air, the EliteBook Folio 1020 that’s even thinner than Apple’s ultra portable notebook. The new HP laptop weighs just 2.2 pounds and is 15.7mm thick, but Engadget reports that a slightly heavier 2.6-pound version will also be available in stores next year when the EliteBook Folio 1020 launches.
Comparatively, the 13.3-inch MacBook Air measures 17mm at its thickest point, and weighs 2.96 pounds. More →
Just as Microsoft is trying to convince laptop and/or tablet buyers that the Surface Pro 3 is a better choice this Christmas than Apple’s iconic MacBook Air, HP has a different plan in mind, ZDNet reveals. Instead of launching an expensive Surface Pro 3 or MacBook Air rival, the company has created a budget-friendly laptop that’s ready to beat the competition on price — targeting Google’s affordable Chromebooks, in particular — and also on size, as the HP Stream 11 is about as big as an 11-inch MacBook Air. More →
HP has been on fire over the past year… and that’s not a good thing. HP announced this week that it will be recalling roughly 6 million AC power cords that were sold between September 2010 through June 2012 after discovering that the cords are liable to overheat and catch on fire. HP says that the affected power cords shipped with “HP and Compaq notebook and mini notebook computers, as well as with AC adapters provided with accessories such as docking stations.” Customers who sent their power cords back will have replacement cords shipped to them at no cost. More →
Last month, when we heard the suggestion that BlackBerry should team up with HP to give its devices more of a presence in the enterprise, we called it the worst advice BlackBerry has ever received. What’s more, we expressed confidence that BlackBerry CEO John Chen was wise enough to avoid that particular pitfall given HP’s utterly disastrous history with designing and selling mobile products, low-lighted by its decision to buy and then quickly kill off Palm’s once-promising webOS platform. More →
There’s a lot of hype around the upcoming Moto 360 smartwatch, as Motorola was the first Android Wear device maker to come up with an awesome gadget that uses the most basic watch design lines – not to worry though, Samsung plans to quickly follow with a round smartwatch, even if it takes a few trial runs to get the new smartwatch model right. However, while the Gear watchmaker is patenting round smartwatches, a different company – one you’d never expect to come out with such a device – is working on an unbelievably gorgeous Moto 360 rival, Engadget has discovered. More →
We’ve seen a lot of different ideas for how BlackBerry can turn itself around over the years but none of them has ever struck us as flat-out crazy… until now. IntoMobile’s Dusan Belic says that BlackBerry needs to make a big move to counter Apple’s huge deal with IBM and that the best way to do this would be by partnering with HP. Yes, that HP. More →
If you wanted a Leap Motion controller, you either need to buy the stand-alone sensor for $79, buy the HP Envy 17 Leap Motion Special Edition, or buy one of 11 other HP devices that came with a keyboard that have an embedded Leap Motion sensor. Now you can buy that keyboard as a stand-alone device for any computer for $99, Engadget was told at the Computex trade show. Of course, you’ll need to have the Leap Motion software installed, which can run on Windows 7 or 8 and Mac OS X 10.7 or higher. When Leap Motion was announced in 2012, we called it “one of the coolest pieces of technology we’ve seen in a while” and its gesture controls look like a vision of the future. Despite the initial excitement, though, it has struggled to attract strong developer attention.
The high-end tablet market is becoming increasingly crowded with each new release, but there’s still plenty of room for more affordable devices. HP just recently launched the HP 7 Plus in the US for a paltry $99.99. HP is known for its almost secretive cheap tablet launches, such as the release of the HP 8 earlier in the year. More →
Up to now, Android has been reserved for smartphones, tablets and the occasional hybrid, but a leaked video reveals that HP might be bringing Google’s mobile operating system to the computer market. Notebook Italia was the first to come across a video on HP’s website showcasing the HP Slatebook 14, a low-end laptop that appears to be the rumored “Androidbook” which never came to fruition last year. More →
Notebook sales were still on the decline in the first quarter of the year, Digitimes Research says, although the “on-year declines were the slowest compared to those in the past five quarters,” and some laptop makers have enjoyed renewed success in the business during the period. Even so, it’s not clear yet whether the notebook market has started to recover, the publication noted. More →
HP continues its silent assault on the Android market with a new device the company isn’t really making any fuss about. Simply called the HP 8, the new 7.85-inch Android tablet is an affordable device that’s already available for purchase on the company’s website – the HP 8 costs just $169.99 and ships immediately. For an additional $29.99, interested buyers can also purchase an HP 8 Blue Tablet Case that’s similar to an iPad Smart Case. More →
A big fuss was made over HP’s recent declaration that Windows 7 computers were “back by popular demand.” Why? Because Windows 8’s reception has been beyond disappointing to PC makers and industry watchers alike. HP moving back to Windows 7 would be yet another sign that computer buyers want nothing to do with Windows 8 but according to ZDNet’s Ed Bott, the entire ordeal was “manufactured.” More →
